


tables turning, always searching

by bellamyblakesgirl



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Comfort, F/M, One Shot, could be read as platonic or romantic, i honestly don't know what this is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-20
Updated: 2020-08-20
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:13:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26007031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bellamyblakesgirl/pseuds/bellamyblakesgirl
Summary: When Zant attacked, Zelda ran, leaving her kingdom behind to fall directly into his hands. Now she lives alone in the Sacred Grove, with only the skull kid and his wooden puppets for company. But then Twilight descends on the Faron Woods and she comes across a Wolf with blue eyes and a Twili on his back.
Relationships: Link & Midna (Legend of Zelda), Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda), Midna & Zelda
Kudos: 28





	tables turning, always searching

**Author's Note:**

> Look, honestly, I don't know what this is. I've just been playing Twilight Princess recently and this idea wouldn't leave me alone. 
> 
> Timeline stuff: Yes, Link still gets captured and imprisoned, but Midna just teleports him back cause Zelda ain't at the castle. Honestly, I just kinda ignored the timeline as a whole in this fic. Also, I'm not sure how well I did with Midna, but I tried my best.
> 
> I really just wanted to explore this idea so I hope you like it!

She had been praying in Faron’s spring when Twilight descended.

It came without warning, just like at the castle. The once blue water turned a sickly orange, black magic emanating from the sacred waters, tainting her prayers to the goddess. Zelda whipped around, her braid almost slapping her in the face as she drew her sword. It was the one she held when Zant had attacked. The one she held when she ran.

The steel glowed, and Zelda’s bright blue eyes searched the forest, scanning for the monstrous four-legged creatures with flat faces that had invaded her home. None appeared, but a horn blew through the forest.

Her stomach twisted. She knew that sound. She’d heard it every day from the Great Bridges of Hyrule as tourists tried to pass.

Wasting no time, she sheathed her sword in favor of the bow on her back, drawing an arrow and aiming it at the entrance of the spring. A fat green face with beady red eyes entered her vision and she loosed, her arrow striking true. She nocked again and another arrow found itself in the eye of the Bublin’s pig, the mount raging wildly before tossing his rider aside, collapsing to the ground in a whine. The Bublin’s beady eyes narrowed, his yell inhuman as he ran forward, a giant club in hand. Zelda brought her sword up to deflect the blow, wood cracking against steel. She pushed the weapon back, her own strength nothing in comparison to the Bublin. His swings were wide and wild, an untrained lackey relying on brute force. She dodged as many as she could, but when she thrust her sword forward, wood smacked against her shoulder. She went flying, body crashing to the ground in a splash.

The water around her turned red and hot pain pulsed in her arm. She spat out the taste of iron and shallow breaths filled her ears. Her sword had skittered across the pool, too far away for her to reach. Pushing herself up, she clutched her injured arm to her chest, wet hair clinging to her face as she began to look for a way to escape. The giant boar was still blocking the entrance, and the Bublin’s pace had increased. Zelda fell backward, her gaze locked on the monster’s. If this was how she died, then she wouldn’t cry out. She would stare her attacker in the face. It was all the courage she could muster.

A black blur entered her vision and soon the Bublin was dead at her feet, his throat swallowed by the beast before her.

She panted, waiting for the wolf to turn his sights on her next. Instead, the creature stayed where it was, staring at his kill with what seemed like shock. But that wasn’t right. Even if it was a normal wolf, she was pretty sure animals couldn’t show human emotions.

And then his eyes met hers.

They were the color of the skies, wide and awestruck as Zelda moved closer. They almost matched her own.

But it wasn’t that alone that unsettled her. It was the way that they seemed to look past the façade she had spent months creating. That somehow, someway, this beast seemed to know exactly who she was.

“What have you found Wolfie?” A high voice that reminded Zelda of bells rang through the clearing, and it was then that she saw the imp on the Wolf’s back.

Zelda scrambled up, ignoring the burning in her shoulder as she rushed over toward her sword, brandishing the steel at the Twili. She bore similar marks to Zant, although much shorter and with a wicked smile curving across her face. Her laugh was high and piercing, and Zelda winced every time it left the imp’s mouth. “That’s too bad,” the imp giggled again, “I was planning on helping you like I did with Wolfie here, but since that looks like it’s not an option…”

“Wait,” Zelda called out, hoping her voice didn’t give her away. The imp’s smile grew bigger and Zelda bit the inside of her cheek, “I owe you for killing that monster, so what did you have in mind?”

The imp smiled once again and disappeared in a puff of magic, reappearing directly in front of Zelda’s face. Yellow eyes met blue and the imp giggled once again, teleporting away to land on the back of the Wolf, the beast grunting in pain from the impact.

“Eehee, follow us and maybe we’ll tell you.”

The Wolf bounded away, and Zelda hurried after them, sheathing her sword while clutching her arm close. It would do no good to injure it further. Zelda followed them through the winding pathways of the woods, further away from the Sacred Grove and the home she had grown to know over the past few months. She followed them over a wooden bridge, through the boundaries of twilight until they reached another spring, this one smaller and kept secret by a locked gate.

The Wolf had disappeared and so had the Imp, while Zelda stood there looking like a fool in a bloodied wool cloak and dripping wet trousers. “This way!” The Imp piped up again, disappearing in a small crawl space. Zelda stared at the tiny hole, silently wondering how she was going to fit her tall limbs through it before swallowing her pride and following the duo. The rock pressed against her shoulders, and she could only use one arm to scoot her forward. She rounded a natural corner and soon found light at the end of the tunnel, squeezing through the hole and entering an untouched spirit spring. The water was still blue.

Light still lived here.

She could almost feel her strength returning, the pain in her arm disappearing as she breathed in the air. It was a place of respite amidst the twilight. Her eyes caught sight of a small pile of supplies near the other side of the spring. A sword, a shield, even a couple of bottles. That was where the Wolf was leading her now.

He nudged the pouch with his snout, causing one of the bottles to come loose, rolling directly toward Zelda, stopping when it hit her boots. She picked it up and stared at it. It was full of milk.

“Well, are you gonna keep staring at it or drink it?” The imp complained, and Zelda had the strange feeling that if she had eyebrows behind the giant stone on her head, they would be raised in annoyance. Zelda uncorked the bottle and drained it of its ingredients. Movement returned to her arm quickly, although it still hurt quite a bit. She wouldn’t be killing any enemies anytime soon, but the pain had dulled, and she could use it.

“Thank you,” She breathed out, moving closer to the makeshift camp. She handed the bottle back to the Imp, who shook her head.

“Don’t give it to me, it belongs to Wolfie over there,”

The beast shrunk at the mention like he could understand them. Zelda crouched down then, dropping the bottle back in the bag before reaching out toward the beast. Her hand hovered over the white mark atop his head, and light filled her vision.

The mark on her hand began to burn, a vision of the Triforce appearing before both of them. Zelda fell backward again, this time her eyes wide with awe.

It couldn’t be.

The scholars had told her of a possible chosen hero in the Ordona province, but she hadn’t believed them. It was common knowledge that the last hero had been a knight of Hyrule.

But here she was, proof of the chosen wielder of courage standing before her.

The goddess’s hero.

Giggling pulled her out of her thoughts and Zelda met the smirk of the Imp, who looked between them. “Seems you two have a lot to talk about.”

The Imp giggled once again before teleporting away, leaving her alone with the Wolf.

“I should have looked harder,” She spoke aloud, more to herself than anything. The hero couldn’t reply back even if he wanted to. She had grown up on the stories of The Hero of Legend and her ancestor. How they had joined forces to awaken the seven sages and save Hyrule from ruin.

She had even heard of the awful origins of the goddess’s chosen ones. How a curse had been laid on them all. To find each other in every life only to be torn asunder by the hatred that followed them.

She had spent her whole life trying to find the chosen hero. To try and save her kingdom before it was too late. When Zant began to invade, she doubled her efforts, but they always turned up empty. And now here she was, paying for her ignorance.

Something soft nudged her hand and the Wolf slid his head underneath her arm, nestling up next to her. Did they also share a connection like her ancestor and the Hero of Legend? Or was it the Wolf’s sixth sense? Every animal she’d come across had always known when she was in distress. Perhaps that was all it was.

“Thank you,” She finally replied, “For what you did in the spring and…for this.”

The Wolf nestled closer to her. Zelda tried to place her pride aside as she asked a question that had been burning since she met the beast.

“Do you have a name?”

The Wolf wagged its tail at the question, gesturing its head in such a way it almost looked like a nod. The beast sat up, placing a large paw in her lap. A cuff was wrapped around his ankle, the broken links of a chain indicating that he had been imprisoned before heading back to Faron Woods.

“You were imprisoned?” She asked and the Wolf nudged the chain links again, but Zelda was at a loss of what this had to do with his name. He kept pawing her lap, almost trying to shake the chains away. Zelda went through every name she knew, trying to figure out what the Wolf was trying to tell her.

Eventually, she turned to legends she had grown up with, trying to remember if there had been any mention of the Hero of Legend’s name. It hit her like a bokoblin’s club. It was an old story, one that Impa had told her when she was a little girl, long before the nursemaid passed.

“Link?” Zelda finally choked out, and the Wolf wagged its tail again, jumping up and running in a circle, his tongue sticking out as he smiled.

Zelda chuckled at the sight, “Nice to meet you Link,” She introduced herself, holding her hand out.

Link placed his paw in her hand, and she shook it.

**Author's Note:**

> This is probably just a one-off thing unless my brain won't leave me alone, but if you enjoyed it please leave a comment or kudos!
> 
> Thank you for reading!


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